Throughout history the Yellow River has always been the "emotional knot" of the Chinese nation. The Yellow River valley was the birthplace of Chinese civilization and has given the Chinese both precious material and spiritual wealth. The Yellow River has nurtured China with its abundant resources and as such is also known as the "Cradle of Chinese civilization."

The Yellow River is the main source of the fresh water for the region. However, since the 1990s, the demand for water resources has increased due to the fast development of the area's economy. Also, due to the effects of global warming, the snow line on the mountains at the sources of the river are getting higher, causing the river-flow to break off at several points downstream. Soil erosion and environmental pollution mean the situation along the valley not optimistic.

Is the cradle of Chinese civilization really going to dry up? There could be many answers to this question, but raising the question itself, and arousing people's awareness are the most imperative. Artists are always the most sensitive people of their age. Those who are engaged in the theme creation of the Yellow River have thought long and hard about this issue.

The Yellow River is not a fashionable topic. On the contrary, it can conjure up images of poverty and backwardness. These artists are not seeking fame of their own, but are responding to the times. These creations have demonstrated that these artists pay more attention to social issues. Hopefully, they will stimulate more artists to move towards nature and further contact with reality.

Creation gives an artist two possibilities in the choice of content presentation. One is to present, in a particular way, the natural scenery and local customs of the Yellow River Valley. Another is to present the misery of the Yellow River and the difficulties of the people whose survival depends upon it. Artists must express thought with their medium. Their works must be presented by means of a unique and mature expression.

More than 30 painters participate in the "Yellow River Theme Creation." Among them, there are highly respected painters of the older generation, energetic middle-aged painters and young artists who have just entered the scene. This demonstrates clearly that painters with different experiences and ages can see eye to eye on an identical theme. Furthermore, these painters' spheres of action are not only limited to the Yellow River Valley, but surmount the regions boundaries, thus enabling this show to have the peculiarity of a national art creation.

Regardless of the painters' age, the region they commit themselves to, or the terms of their creative profundity, Yellow River Creation can be considered as a collective showcase of traditional Chinese painting in recent years, with the theme of the Yellow River the reason for these painters to come together. The majority of the participating painters completed their works after personally experiencing the life of the Yellow River Valley.

These works are brimming with life's vitality. In the past, painters exhausted their artistic talent in the brush and ink on site, but now they no longer hesitate to do so in their own studios. Their comprehension of the theme has opened up their minds. Among those magnificent mountains and rivers, they realized the greatness, broadness, splendour and elegance of nature. From sunrises to sunsets, from big rivers to steep slopes, morning fog and evening clouds winding around high mountain ridges, the painters felt themselves placed in the midst of nature's greatness.

The painters also experienced the local conditions and social customs, their bountifulness as well as their misery, letting their brushwork beat in time with their minds, filling their works with passion.

In Tong Zhongtao's "Series of Zigzag Yellow River," the artist unfolds the boundless Loess Plateau before our eyes. This work gives out a vast view with a distinct modern sense, with a dash of pathos thrown in. This work, along with "Liujiaxia Gorge," fully demonstrates his ability and skill in dealing with reality.

Middle-aged artist Kuang Da is an admirer of the landscape painting of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and as the organizer of this show, thinks that the reason why the Song Dynasty's paintings had such grandeur was the attention Song's painters paid to scenery sketches. He also thinks painters should get rid of the limitation of small affective tones, and instead express the realms of mountains and rivers. Kuang Da is a person who persists in carrying on this artistic tradition and his artwork gives out a vigorous expression that is possessed by both an imposing manner and fierce effect. By using brush and ink, the painter reveals an uninhabited area where people can enter into a colourful world. His artworks are permeated with the intense significance of reality.

The high standard of work in this collection has helped the organizer realize his initial desire. This collection is the active result of mutual efforts by both organizer and artists.

If intellectuals are the carriers of social conscience, the organizers and participating artists have had no choice but to listen to the call of society and the wild. The Yellow River is China's mother river, when her bounty, benevolence and generosity turn into barren indignation and helplessness because of our mistakes, how should we react? In this "Creation of the Yellow River," both organizer and artists have provided their own response.

(China Daily 12/16/2005 page18)